


Please Don't Jump

by JosiahPeregrine



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, First Kiss, M/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-25
Updated: 2014-05-25
Packaged: 2018-01-26 10:37:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1685315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JosiahPeregrine/pseuds/JosiahPeregrine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Soulmate Tattoo AU where Grantaire has “Please don’t jump” tattooed on his arm and it terrifies him knowing in the future his life is going to take that turn, and he doesn’t know why or when, or even if he will be able to listen to his soulmate when the time comes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Please Don't Jump

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 中文 available: [【中文翻译】Please Don't Jump](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1981731) by [BriaBelleDean](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BriaBelleDean/pseuds/BriaBelleDean)



> based on this tumblr post:  
> http://magnetos.co.vu/post/85063373524/soulmate-tattoo-au-where-grantaire-has-please
> 
> Thanks to tumblr user movingmetal for this excellent prompt and for letting me write a fic of it.

It showed up late one night, and Grantaire was honest to god surprised. For years Grantaire was sure his tattoo would never show up, or would be in Japanese or something ridiculous like one of Bossuet's had been. Only a few people got looked over on their eighteenth birthday, and even fewer went their whole life without a tattoo, but Grantaire was sure he was one of the cursed few who would never have someone who was his. _Destiny_ , he thought, _certainly was reassuring._ It would definitely be nice to know that no matter what else went wrong in his life, there was someone in the world who was meant for him to love and to be loved by in return.

So when Grantaire's tattoo came, so, so late that night, and it said _that_ of all things it could have been, the first word's Grantaire's soulmate would say to him was going to be _that,_ all of Grantaire's idealism and hope about happiness coming from getting his tattoo went out the window, _just like_ , thought Grantaire, _just like I apparently will someday._

At twenty-three Grantaire got his tattoo, the simple line of black text around his wrist showed the first words he would ever hear his soul mate say to him. For years Grantaire had thought about how great having a soulmate would be, about how he would be happy when he found his person, but yet again the world had laughed in his face. Just three words. Three word's which should have saved him from the darkness he had lived in for so long, three words that were supposed to bring him all the peace and happiness the universe had to offer. Just three words. _Please don't jump._

  
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Enjolras put on a big show about not caring about tattoos or soulmates or destiny or fate or whatever you wanted to call it. He ran a support group for those who were not blessed with tattoos, who were not smiled on my god or the universe or whatever caused the tattoos. He organized visibility campaigns and awareness projects, anti-discrimination rallies, lobbied for equal marriage opportunities for those who either didn't have a designated soulmate or didn't want to marry theirs. Enjolras wanted the world to know he didn't mind that he didn't get a tattoo, and he didn't want one either _thank you very much. People do just fine without them, see, love can still happen without them and even if it doesn't who the fuck cares, anyway?_ Certainly not _Enjolras_. Certainly not.

  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Fuck everything. Literally every single thing. Grantaire had been getting better, he really had. He's been drinking less, going to therapy more, he has a steady job and can pay for his meds every month, he's taken up painting again. He's been doing better, and he had allowed himself to hope and fantasize and think that maybe a tattoo was that last little thing that he needed for his life to have balance, for him to finally be alright and stay that way.

Grantaire was getting better, and he thought he was going to keep getting better, but that tattoo on his arm says otherwise. It says that someday in the future it's going to get bad again, worse than it's ever been. It says that someday everything he's built for himself over the past two years, his stable job, his friendship with Eponine, his painting, his routine, for the love of god his _cats,_ someday that's all going to be gone or ruined beyond fixing, or he's going to mess up something unforeseeable and it will all be gone, and he will decide to be gone along with it. 

It's unsettling. No, who is he kidding, Grantaire is terrified. Because he knows the future now, he knows someday, somehow, his life is going to take a turn that makes him try to take that jump and he doesn't know how or when but knowing that it's going to happen is bad enough. Knowing that it's going to happen, his soulmate is going to beg him, _please don't jump,_ and Grantaire doesn't know when, and he doesn't know if he's going to be able to obey when he hears those words. Grantaire is so, so scared.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Enjolras turned eighteen and didn't get a tattoo, he set up a club at his college for others who didn't get one either. He called it Les Amis, the friends, because as far as Enjolras is concerned, friendship is just as important and strong as the bond of soulmates. Les Amis became extremely close, and served as an excellent audience for Enjolras' causes and projects. But, only about point three percent of the entire world's population goes their entire life without a soulmate tattoo, and even Les Amis, as diverse and odd a group as they are, cannot escape the facts of life and statistics. By Enjolras' third year in university, he was the only one of his friends who hadn't found his soulmate, or soulmate _s_ in Joly's case, the lucky bastard. But, Enjolras didn't mind not having anyone in the entire universe to call his own, he didn't mind being the only person in his group of friends not happily paired off. No, really, he really, really did not mind at all.

  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

You know what, _fuck destiny._ No stupid tattoo is going to decide Grantaire's fate, no three words can have that much power over him. No, Grantaire isn't even going to let the promise of a soulmate rule what he does. Grantaire has been getting better, and he is going to continue to get better, soulmates be damned. 

  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Enjolras is sitting alone in his apartment listening to an ambulance wail on the street below. It's Friday night and all of Les Amis are out with their soulmates doing whatever a person does when they know that the person that they are with is meant for them, and that what they are doing right now is fine because the person they are with will love them no matter what. They are doing whatever it is that people who love eachother unconditionally do, and Enjolras is at home, drinking cold coffee out of a chipped mug and waiting for the next time he can be with his friends, or leading the people to support one of his causes, or assisting the support group, or doing something, anything really, any activity which didn't involve Enjolras being alone.

He is sitting alone in his apartment, and the ambulance is gone. It's dark out, and late, very late. And, like always, Enjolras goes to sleep alone.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For the first time since Grantaire's tattoo came, he feels good. He feels empowered, he feels like he is in control again. He goes to sleep smiling and wakes up inspired to paint, to capture the beauty that he sees in the world once again. 

It really is a lovely day, so he takes his sketchbook and walks to the park, and climbs the big oak tree like he always does, because it has the best view of the young couples having picnics on the grass, and the children playing in the stream, and the beautiful flower gardens that the old ladies like to bird watch in. The amount of life and love and beauty and happiness Grantaire had seen from that old tree was enough to fill his days with all the joy he needed. Who cares about soulmates or the grim future his tattoo predicts when there is so much here to see and paint and experience?

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That morning when he wakes up, he notices something dark underneath his sleeve. He pushes it up to reveal a line of writing circling his wrist. 

His tattoo had come at last, and it said, _Oh, god, I didn't notice you there._ Which, really is great, just great. Of course his soulmate wouldn't notice him. Perfect.

  
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Enjolras was supposed to be meeting Cosette under the Big Old Oak Tree In the Park to talk about his newly discovered tattoo, and _see Enjolras, we told you there was someone out there for you too_. But his sister never showed up, the traitor. She was probably out with her soulmate Eponine enjoying the day, and since he was already there, Enjolras decides he can read in the shade of the tree just as well as he can read in his apartment, so he sits down and does just that. 

He's only about twenty pages in when he hears rustling and crackling in the branches above his head. Enjolras looks above him just in time to see a human-ish shape coming down through the boughs of the tree extremely fast and he manages to squeek out a panicked “Please don't jump!” and the noise stops. 

The figure, which Enjolras can now see is a man with dark curly hair and paint on his clothes crouches on a low branch and says “Oh, god, I didn't notice you there,” and then “You startled me, I'm glad you said something, I would have crushed you.”

Enjolras looks at the man in awe, the man who seemingly fell from the sky to speak to him on this day, the man who is his soulmate. “Here, let me help you down.” When they are both safely on the ground, the man from the tree says “Sorry about that, I'm Grantaire, by the way.” and Enjolras is still in shock, this man, Grantaire, is his soulmate, and he doesn't seem to be phased.

“I'm Enjolras, and I think you're my soulmate” is all he can think of to say.

Grantaire pauses, confused, and looks at his own wrist, the words written there _please don't jump_ and thinks back on the past few moments, then smiles and Enjolras swears it is the most beautiful smile he's ever seen. “I never thought it would be like this,” Grantaire manages, “You get something like _please don't jump_ written on your arm and you never think oh, maybe I'll come falling out of a tree onto my soulmate, you know?” And Grantaire is laughing, he's happy, and he is there with his soulmate, with Enjolras, the beautiful golden man who will never have to save his life or stop him from killing himself, the man who just didn't want to be crushed and who ended up meeting his soulmate. They are there together and they laugh.

  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

A month or so later, under the same old oak tree at the same park, Grantaire holds Enjolras' hand and runs his thumb over the tattoo on Enjolras' wrist, and asks “Can I kiss you?” and the reply is a gentle hand on his cheek, a soft exhalation of hot breath on his nose, and a press of lips against his, tender and loving, and yes, _this is what it feels like to be completely happy._

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked this, if you want to yell at me or talk to me or give me prompts for future fics, come find me on tumblr! radicalfeministbitch.tumblr.com


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